Stan Winston taught us that characters, not tech, drive movies

Stan Winston has passed away at the too-young age of 62. The message he left …

Last Sunday, Stan Winston passed away at his home in Malibu, CA. He had been suffering from multiple Myeloma, and finally succumbed at the age of 62. There are very few people who know the name of Stan Winston and don't revere the man as something approaching a minor deity in the world of filmmaking. His influence went well beyond bringing monsters and heroes to life: he played a part in producing an impressive number of influential films and characters. Winston's work isn't remembered for the whiz-bang effects in these movies, but for the stories he helped propel.

Winston had strong ideas about what his job entailed. "I don't do special effects. I create characters, and I use the tools of special effects necessary to do it," Winston told the BBC. When speaking to the Orange County Register, he claimed, "Special effects, by themselves, don't mean diddley-squat in a movie. If the characters I created can't perform, can't act and aren't interesting, it just isn't going to work. It doesn't matter how good the technique is if you have not created interesting characters." What else would you expect from a man who loved painting, acting, and puppetry? Like most people we consider geniuses, his focus seemed disparate and scattershot until he found his niche and everything came together. When you dream of acting but find work in makeup, you either give up or make-do: Stan Winston created characters who could act for and with him.

Think about the first Terminator film, the movie that made Governor Schwarzenegger's career. In the opening scene we don't see people, we see the future war, metal soldiers walking across a dystopian future. This is what we're scared of, the idea that one of these is inside the "human" Schwarzenegger. In a bold move we're shown the monster first and, as the movie continues, the human disguise of the Terminator, peeled back, piece by piece, until only the machine remains. The design of the endoskeleton could be the most powerful "assist" in movie history—Schwarzenegger barely needed to do anything, as the Terminator was firmly in our minds already. Stan Winston created that character, not Arnold.

Even in Terminator 2, where digital effects helped create the T-1000 character, it's impressive to think of how many of the effects were handled on-set. Many of the T-1000's transformations and deformations were actually done with a combination of makeup and animatronics, an impressive feat. Most digital effects are intended to look real, but Stan Winston created effects that were so seamless they melded perfectly with the digital work on the movie. The combination of practical effects, digital work, and Robert Patrick's performance created yet another memorable character. He didn't let the computer take over; instead, he adapted and improved every aspect of the effects in Terminator 2, and it remains one of the most visually impressive action films ever made.

While Edward Scissorhands may at first look only like a man with blades on his hands in a leather suit, the next time you watch the film on DVD, pause and take a look at how intricate the makeup and prosthetics were. Edward's very existence looked painful. This was another Stan Winston creation, and it was as important as Johnny Depp's plaintive performance was for making the character so memorable. The other movies he worked on—including Predator, Aliens, Jurassic Park, AI, Big Fish, Zathura, and Iron Man—aren't remembered and treasured because they were "effects pictures"—we love them and watch them time after time because of the characters.

62 is much too young for someone like Stan Winston to leave us, but his life and work create an argument for technology that we must never forget. The most powerful computer, the most compelling effect, the newest technology is worthless unless there is an artist with a beating heart and a strong will wielding the tools. We live in a time where the magic of movies is somewhat lost, and it would be simple to blame computers for that. I hope everyone in the industry re-watches Winston's films and is reminded just how powerful practical effects are, and that no one will care about a film unless they care about the characters. He never stopped adapting, and he never lost his childlike sense of wonder and playfulness, both of which are evident in the films he touched. His work helped to create some of the best science-fiction and horror films of all time.

Stan Winston, when I look at the movies planned for this season, I miss you already.